The Music Boat, Part 1
Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 10:50AM 
This year my husband and I went on a cruise for our 16th anniversary. We've never gone away with just the two of us for more than a night or two in all those years. This was going to be 6 days away from the kids, work, and the stress of normal life. I was so excited!
Since I knew I would be without a cell signal and internet access, I brought along a good old-fashioned journal, and decided to write about what was happening, old-school. Right. I have never been good at journaling. I think I wrote about the first day and a half. For the rest, I'll have to rely on my memory. This could go terribly wrong. This morning I forgot what our home phone number is. I blamed it on lack of sleep and sinus pain, but...
Our travel to Florida went miraculousy smoothly! The timing was perfect, even if the actual travel arrangements were a bit round about. We flew out of Indianapolis because it was considerably cheaper than flying out of Midway or O'hare. So, Sunday the 3rd started off with dropping the girls off at church, where our friend who would be staying with them was, and then a 2 1/2 hour drive to Indy. The timing was perfect that whole day. From having enough time to eat at one of my favorite places (Qdoba) to picking up our rental car in Orlando, and driving the hour to our hotel in Cape Canaveral. I love renting cars! I'm weird like that. We ended up with a white Dodge Charger. I didn't drive it, but it was fun to have a cool car (ie, NOT a mini-van!)
The resort we spent the night at was nice. I was all excited because they had sleep number beds, and I'd always wanted to see if that was a good mattress choice for us (we still need a new mattress.) It's not. I slept horribly! The pool area was beautiful with a waterfall, but we just wanted to find dinner and go to sleep. We drove around Cape Canaveral looking for a place to eat. We stopped at the Pig and Whistle English Pub. It looked interesting. Unfortunately, it was more pub than restaurant, and we wanted food. There were 4 menu choices, and we ended up leaving. We drove around some more and stopped for a few minutes to see Cocoa Beach. Totally was thinking of "I Dream of Jeannie" too. I just had to smell the salty air and feel the sea breezes. Beautiful!
We ended up eating at Durango steak house. It was good. I had the oak-grilled, chipotle Mahi-Mahi. After dinner we went back to the hotel and just relaxed in our room. There was a documentary on tv about cruise ships. It was pretty interesting, and since I love a behind-the-scenes look, got me even more excited for the next day. We also watched Family Feud and The Price is Right, officially making us "old."
Monday was departure day for the cruise, but we had to get our rental car back before we caught the shuttle to the pier. The plan was that Phil would drive it to the rental place, a mile and a half away, and run back to the hotel. Seeing as how I had very little time to workout the week before we left, I guilted myself into going with him. Ugh! Worst run ever. I'm used to running in the afternoon, with food in my stomach. Running in morning sun and FL humidity, on an empty stomach was NOT a good idea. And yet, I did it. He made it back to the hotel 5 minutes before I did, but I made it. At least the nauseau from my run would be gone by the time we caught the shuttle.
The pier was only a 5 min. drive from the hotel, and so we thought our driver, "Bong" from the Philippines, was joking when he said to settle in for a 45 min. drive. He wasn't. You drive 5 min. to the pier then sit in 40 min. of traffic getting cleared to go through the security checkpoint. After we got off the shuttle we had to wait in line for about an hour to get cleared to go on the ship. Numerous times our documentation was checked while we waited in this line. It was worse than the airport!
After we were cleared through security (as not being terrorists or pirates) we went and checked out our stateroom. One word: small. The ship, The Monarch of the Seas, is an older ship, and smaller than most cruise ships. It was still nice though. We went and had some lunch in the Windjammer Cafe' on deck 11. The food was ok. All we had to compare this cruise with was the Disney Cruise we took with the girls 7 years ago. Disney has no comparison! Then again, we didn't choose this cruise for the ship or the food, I was there for the bands. Phil was there, because I was there. (More on that cryptic remark later.) We walked around the ship some acclimating ourselves to the set-up. Port. Starboard. Aft...you know, all those nautical terms. 
Before the ship can leave port they always have a mandatory saftely drill. These are probably not as fun on other cruises, but on this one, I think it was. Since this was the Music Boat and all, all the bands had to participate as well. So, when the drill whistle went off, and everyone was walking up the stairs to their muster station, it was a game of "who did you spot?" I saw Jason Dunn of Hawk Nelson, Noah from Pillar, and at least one or two of the Katinas. We all had to wear our life vests, so everyone was lookin' stylish.
I haven't even finished the first day's events yet, but my behind has gone to sleep. Maybe I'll post some more later.
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (4)
Mandatory safety drills are so fun =) aren't they? But making a game of "who can you spot?" had to make that day go better! Very creative =) I remember that being about "who can get the life vests on their kids without them screaming?" Your game sounds much better =)
nicee!!
Sounds interesting so far!!
Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story. Nice picture of you and hubby.